Being a small business owner as well as a connoisseur of efficiency producing technologies, I have always wanted to go paperless, but two things have always prevented me from taking the leap:
- Too many frustrating experiences with scanners
- Too many experiences with digital files being saved in places that no one can find
Theoretically, two things have changed that mitigate these issues. First, extremely high quality, user-friendly and affordable document scanners are now available from a variety of companies and stores. Second, OCR (Optical Character Recognition) software, which makes the text in scanned documents searchable, has come a long way. By utilizing this software, if I’m not able to find documents that I’ve scanned in the proper folder, I can still find it by searching for text that I remember being in the document.
I ordered the Fujitsu ScanSnap IX500 yesterday, and after reading about the features, watching some demo videos and reading reviews, I’m excited. My only concerns are that I might receive a defective product (which apparently happens periodically according to the reviews) or run into an issue related to the “ultrasonic sensor” that I’ve read about. I’ll update this article with my final verdict next week, after I’ve had a chance to use it.
For now, I’ll identify the decision making process that I used to select this product. I first conducted some searches for high speed document scanners with OCR capabilities and discovered that Fujitsu’s ScanSnap, Epson’s WorkForce and Neat’s NeatDesk are three of the most popular options. ScanSnap had by far the best reviews of any of the products, but a friend of mine recommended NeatDesk, so I decided to focus on those two options. NeatDesk was described in a number of reviews as selling a good document management software product with a scanner as an add-on. The reviewers felt that the hardware wasn’t as functional as the competition. Furthermore, after comparing the features of the included ScanSnap software (not to be confused with the Fujitsu’s “Rack-2Filer” software, which sounds painful) and NeatDesk, I actually prefer ScanSnap’s. It is compatible with numerous third party services (like Dropbox, Evernote and SugarSync) and it can be configured to simply utilize standard folders rather than a proprietary software package or service. Because I use both Macs and PCs, I place a premium on flexibility.
Regarding premiums, the ScanSnap IX500 ($420 on Amazon) is a little more expensive than NeatDesk ($350 for the PC version or $365 for the Mac version on Amazon), but not enough to seriously influence my decision. Considering the amount of time I expect to spend using this new device, I would easily pay an extra $100 for a more user-friendly machine.
The reviews for ScanSnap IX500 indicate all different types and levels of users. Some people have been using previous models of ScanSnap for years. Others, like me, are new to the paperless initiative. Virtually every review I read (both professional and consumer) were positive… except for people that seemed to have defective products. And even they said that when the product worked, it was outstanding. I’m just crossing my fingers, hoping that I don’t wind up with a lemon. Worst case scenario, if I have any trouble, I’ll have it replaced.
I’ll update this post with my first reactions once I receive the ScanSnap. I’ve also noticed that few people have published useful tips online for setting up a new paperless organization system, so I’ll be creating those as well.
